Colorado Parks and Wildlife has killed a lone, uncollared wolf believed to be responsible for 10 confirmed depredation events since the summer of 2025, the agency announced Saturday.
Officials said video evidence showed the wolf — originally a member of the Copper Creek Pack — was the same elusive wolf responsible for depredations in Rio Blanco County in 2025 and early 2026. Officials had made several previous attempts to "lethally remove" the wolf, but were unsuccessful and eventually called off the effort.
Those efforts began again after two depredation events in Routt County on Wednesday and Thursday, CPW spokesperson Luke Perkins confirmed.
Local
CPW tried to kill a depredating wolf, but doesn’t know if it was successful
The wolf's 10 depredation events since 2025 involved 22 sheep, according to CPW's release. CPW officials said there was "clear and convincing evidence" in each case that a wolf was responsible and that non-lethal options were pursued.
Perkins said CPW determines if lethal removal is appropriate "on a case-by-case basis," and more details will be included in a final report on the lethal removal that will be posted to CPW's website.
CPW concludes lethal removal is appropriate if there is chronic depredation — three confirmed events in 30 days with at least one having "clear and convincing evidence" — and a livestock producer has tried to nonlethally deter the wolf, Perkins said in an email. The agency may also decide "it is appropriate in other circumstances," he said.
“The decision to pursue lethal actions is never an easy one but the circumstances around this wolf’s repeated depredation history made this a difficult but necessary decision,” CPW Director Laura Clellan said in a release. “The producers impacted by these depredations have worked diligently with CPW to identify and deploy all viable and reasonable non-lethal tools and techniques identified through their site assessment and consultation with our field staff.”
Those efforts included deployment of range riders, the use of livestock guardian dogs, human presence from herders and applying for injurious non-lethal hazing permits, according to CPW's release.
Environment
The uncaptured Copper Creek wolf was depredating in Rio Blanco Co. a year later
“This elusive wolf had a number of chances but sadly chose to continue to depredate which necessitated this challenging management decision," Gov. Jared Polis said in the release. "Colorado remains committed to recovering and maintaining a viable, self-sustaining wolf population in Colorado, while concurrently working to minimize wolf-related conflicts with domestic animals, with non-lethal means as our priority.”
This marks the second wolf CPW has killed since voter-mandated wolf reintroduction began in 2023, according to CPW spokesperson Perkins.
The first was just over a year ago in Pitkin County after a series of depredations in May 2025.
Read the full Colorado Wolf Restoration and Management Plan
Denver7 has been following Colorado's wolf reintroduction program since the very beginning, and you can explore all of that reporting in the timeline below, which starts with our most recent story.